Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Tips for reeeeaaaaaly clear water?

I've started fishing a river that runs through town and have seen some nice catfish and bass in it, but can't catch much of anything. The water's clear, you can see the bottom to 6 or 7 feet, which is about as deep as it gets.

I'm throwing live worms, fake worms, and crankbaits (mostly blue and silver) and nothing's working.

One guy I came across said he always has success with live bream, but those aren't handy for a quick hour or two before / after work.

Any suggestions?

For the bass, silver spinners.

Catfish....I aint got a clue....something stinky??

Fish it at night....


Ingwe

White Spinner bait.

Se if you can find the micro size.
Strike King makes a "rattle Trap" looking thing in bronze, black back and orange belly.

Fish upstream with casts received at 45 degrees.

Fish early morning, late afternoon.

5" Senkos or Zeros (I prefer a white Zero) on fluorocarbon leader for the bass.

I've done fine with chicken liver or cut bream for cats when I couldn't use live bait.

Clear water and a lot visibility ?

Go small; 4 lb and less and use stealth when presenting SMALL natural looking lure

Wait for an overcast day or when a front moves in. Best time

Like Louis B said: Early morning or early evening too. Don't let them see you

Forgot to mention these

+1

Fish in low light. It'll probably increase your catch by a long margin.

Fish in low light. It'll probably increase your catch by a long margin.

If you're fishing live bait, i.e. nite crawlers, lose the weight and go ultralight. I used to ambush big bass and trout using this technique, but it's not easy. Here's what you do. Use 4lb test line on an ultralight rig. Thread a crawler on a size 8 or smaller hook and sink the tip into the crawler to make it weedless ... use the weight of the crawler and no other weight. Don't let the fish see you approach (get yer camo on) and sneak to a point where you can cast upstream of the target and let the offering do a natural drift to the target. Be sure to adjust the drag for that 4lb test.

I was able to land 3 lb trout and an 8lb 2oz bass with this technique and many smaller ones, too. It works in daylight and low light.

The deep running areas on the MO trout streams like tiny jigs floated under a cork next to the opposite bank. Trout like white or green maribou that has been trimmed short. Smallmouth like little crawfish crankbaits. Catfish seem to feed downstream from riffles and and upstream from laydowns. Good luck.

Just incase you missed it the first 2 times....

Yall think I should fish when it's kinda dark outside?

maybe, or you could at least wear your Jimmy Houston sunglasses. You'll catch more fish if they can't see your eyes.

I did. I just answered without reading all the posts.

Lures by DuPont....

Ditto. Recommend a 4" slider worm in a natural color, fished painfully slow on a 1/8 oz. spider slider head.

try 4lb flurocarbon,night time,black crappie spin or even a black roostertail

There's a strip mine lake near here that is crystal clear! Full of bass. Cloudy or sunny, move in slow, stop at a little distance and present them with the bait they want. You catch fish. I like morning and evening top waters. During the day I use soft plastics. They love a brown salamander with a light bullet sinker rigged weedless.

I have to admit, cloudy is normally better.

Dan